Remember O Most Gracious Virgin Mary

Yes, serious business folks.  NO ONE has the slightest idea of how great a night I had last night.  I’ll probably be riding on the high from last night for months.  I’ll give a detailed summary, and then YOU tell me you wouldnt be writing about it:

SO.  A CAUSE de mon anniversaire…(Because of my Birthday, my 21st, mind you)  My Aunt and Uncle, Carla and Brian wanted to take me out to dinner last night.  So a late celebration, actually.  My bday was the 5th.  Eww, dinner with aunt and uncle, you say.  No indeed.  These guys are the best.  Carla is my dad’s youngest sister, so she’s not old, really.  Carla emailed me saying, “let’s go to Jeff Ruby’s at Newport on The Levee” 
  And I’m like, okay.  I didnt know what Jeff Ruby’s was.  But if you know Carla and Brian, you know that these guys know how to have a good time.  yes indeed.

And as a matter of fact, the night of my birthday, 2 weeks ago, I went to Newport with my friend Megan and her bf to eat at an Irish pub.  We passed this well-known-to-people-my-age restaurant called Tropicana.  I read a small sign above it which said: “Jeff Ruby’s:  TROPICANA”

So we get there and Brian orders me a drink that now I know I can never appreciate anything less.  Of course it was a margarita.  HOWEVER, It was a Gold margarita, with grand marnier, tres generales ordered Up.  So no slushy, no watery ice.  Salt.  Crazy smooth.  Heaven.  $15.
dang. 

I’m not even going to go into dinner, but lets just say, I ate the best steak I’ve ever had in my life.  During the course, I ordered a Manhattan!!!  Now, this drink was too strong for me…i liked it, yes, but i think it’s something I know I will most likely end up drinking as a favorite during later times. 
So, another Margarita.  heaven.
A cake! 
So dinner was REALLLLY glorious.  A really good time.  Funny stories.  And Carla and Brian brought me back and I think they were slightly impressed with my apartment.  We sat and talked for a while, and then they left. 

I looked at the time and it was only 10:30!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT!?  Oh hell, I’m not done with this night!
SO.  I got up the courage, a grace de my Margaritas, and called a gentleman I met on my birthday, who has since then, taken me out to dinner, taken me to a party, and watched a movie with me… and treated me like a princess.  For serious. 
So, I called, got scared, and hung up.  He called back, and was like, “Hey!  We’re going downtown to McFadden’s!  We’re getting a taxi.  We’ll pick you up in a half hour.”

GOLDEN.

SO.  I go. 
I got picked up and jamed into a taxi with a driver who we called Papa, but looked and talked like Bob Marley. 
We get there and have to stand outside and feeze waiting in a huge line of already drunk young people…

There was this crazy homeless black guy who was the most honest brother I’ve ever seen. 
-”Hey, brotha, I’m not gonna lie, I need money so a brotha can buy a beeeer!” 
-”HEY! WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE I’M SOME KIND OF A BLACK GUY!?”
“Oh, I wasnt even looking at you..”
“GOOD, THEN GIVE ME A DOLLA, YOU SON’B!!”
-”WHAT, WHAT YOU WANT ME TA DO!?  WHITE POWA!  IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT!?  WHITE POWA ,WHITE POWA!!”
Needless to say, this guy got his beer money. 

AAAaaanyway, one of The Gentleman’s friends knew someone who was working and they came and got us out of line, and let us in through the back. 
“Hey, people KNOW us.”  The Gentleman said.

More drinks for Carolyn!  A Long Island, and of course, for Jack, a Rum and Coke.  This bar/dance club was (really crowded) the coolest because not only did they play the pop/hip hop music, but every few songs the dj would throw in an oldie.  So there was a lot of singing along. “WHY DO YOU BUILD ME UP, BUTTERCUP BABY JUST TO LET ME DOWN” 
It was just a dang good time. I danced.  I danced with the Gentleman. We sang, loud, proud, and obnoxiously. And there were sparks.

Before we arrived at McFadden’s The Gentleman was talking to me and his friends about the song Sweet Caroline.  And I was saying I’d never heard of it, but ppl were always bringing it up when saying my name. 

AS chance would have it, the second to last song played, The Gentleman and his friends were suddenly very excited and started singing and dancing around me.  I was thinking, man, these guys are fabulously crazy, when all of the sudden, they broke out into chorus “SWEEET CAROLINE”
And it was my song!  Though, The Gentleman adjusted it to ‘Sweet Carolyn’. 

While waiting for the Cab, the fellows entertained myself and Erin, Megan’s twin sister, with their renditions of GOULET! 

Cab ride home, I fell out of the cab and flew up to my apartment on silver wings. 
It was like two awesome nights in one.  I havent had a night like that….ever?  yeah, ever. 
Thank you. 

P.S. John West IS AWESOME.  You should check him out, if you haven’t yet:  http://www.johnpeterwest.com/

Why does it come all at once? I feel as if there’s someone testing me. Putting me through a test, to see if i can pass. BUT WHO????? Who wins? It makes me think too much. I think about the past. The people in my past. The people who for some reason or another remain in the present. Why, are you just popping in and out, as if to say, “Hey, I’m here, just to let you know.” ???

DO something about it then! There is NO right time. I gave up on that. For this specific thing, when it comes to this, if you see it, HAVE AT IT.
Seriously, if you’re just jumping in and out of my life, stay or leave.
I am so tired of waiting. but i guess i have to. I have to wait…for “the right time” yes okay oh well. I am not a game.

alright. should i just delete all of this? i wont.

SO.  I’m annoyed at the general population of young people in the world. Today.  Why?  BECAUSE WE DO NOT THINK!  Actually, it’s not just young people, it’s everyone.  The older folk can cover it up better.  SERIOUSLY, what are you doing?  WHY DID YOU JUST SAY THAT?  What is your aim?  Are you aware of your surroundings, the people to whom you are addressing? 

“I don’t care!  I don’t care what people think of me!”

Okay, 13 year old!  You should care what people think of you.  No one can succeed in this world if you cannot form your thoughts and communicate them with comprehensible ENGLISH, or French, or Spanish, if you will.  When making a statement, are you precisely aware of what you are saying and all the things which that particular statement entails?

There is a girl in my Lithography class.  Let’s call her Sara.  I believe she’s in her senior year.

Sara makes a hand-drawn print of the typical “Jesus fish”, turns it vertical, replaces “Jesus” with “Hypocrisy”, submerges it in what appears to be crudely drawn water.  You know, like this:

“~~~( )~~~”      Do you kind of have a visual?   Hope so. Moving on. 

     ^

Before I comment on the message portrayed in this piece of ‘art’ (which in fact it is.  Who am I to say it’s not?  I’m just being sarcastic), I would very much like to comment on the initial appearance and craft of Sara’s work: 

BAD CRAFT.  The composition looked as if she were an 8 year old who, while making her print, was like: “hmm!  How about a flower here, some sparkles there, ribbon, confetti!”  All plastered right smack-dab in the middle of the page, with a glue stick.  Smudges.  Poorly negotiated brushwork.  Nothing interesting, except the shock of seeing a really poorly written, scrunched-up “HYPOCRICY” right in the middle, along with everything else.  I mean, come on!  Use a ruler! A french curve!  Stencils!  ANYTHING to make the typography look interesting.  but no. 8 year old quality.  –I mean, don’t get me wrong, there very well could be a genius master of art who is 8 years old, but I think you know what I’m trying to say here–
Looking at the image alone, the craft, the composition, the thought put into the lines and the marks made, my first question shot into mind:  “How in the WORLD did she make it to her senior year?”  And then another question, “Are you in DAAP!?”  And then a frightening thought, “So, THIS is a representative of our lovely Art program here at UC, art of an eight-year-old.  She’s going to show this to people.”

MOVING ON. 
THE WONDERFUL ATTENTION-GETTING SHOCK VALUE.

Take note:  Before you make ANY sort of radical statement that may (even in the slightest) arouse upset reactions….  KNOW AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ABOUT IT.  The history, the full concept.  Both sides of the argument.  NOT JUST YOUR OPINION.  NOT JUST YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. 

BUT most of the time –from young adults in particular- I hear this:

“Beethoven sucks.”

“Why?”

“Because, man, he just does.  His music’s all classical and sh*t.  I hate that crap.”

“But don’t you at least appreciate the work he’s done?  The fact that he was deaf and still created masterpieces?” 

“Naw man, I don’t care about that.”

End. 

Do you see where I’m going???  This person cannot or will not stretch his/her mind to asking him/herself WHY he/she does not like Beethoven.  He/she cannot competently defend his/her statement.  He/she looks like an idiot.

AND, in the same sense, poor Sara did basically the same thing.
When asked to describe her piece of work, why she wrote “Hypocrisy” in place of “Jesus”, she answered with a tiny bit more merit than our buddy above. 

 “I wrote hypocrisy because that’s what I see in Christians, and mostly Catholics.  I mean, I come from a Catholic family and education.  And my parent’s friends were all suspicious and had to be very organized and they had to have a certain place for everything.  Like the pillows on their couch.  If they weren’t perfectly aligned, they’d like, freak out!
“I see these people who say they’re Christian, and they go out and sin and do other than what they claim to believe.”

HERE IS WHY I DISAGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT:

1.  Define hypocrisy.  Do a quick GOOGLE search:  

Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, virtues and feelings that one does not truly possess. The word derives from the late Latin hypocrisis and Greek hupokrisis both meaning play-acting or pretence. The word is arguably derived from hypo- meaning small, + krinein meaning to decide/to dispute. A classic example of a hypocritical act is to denounce another for carrying out some action whilst carrying out the same action oneself.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocrisy

2.  Define a Christian.  Define a Catholic.  Define a protestant.  Is there a difference?  Name them.  

NOW.  Just taking these two things into consideration, there is a TON of information to get into.  OBVIOUSLY, one can say that Sara has no idea of what is a Catholic, much less a Christian. 

If you know anything about Christianity, you know that Christians believe in trying to perfect their souls and that God is an all-forgiving god.  All one needs to do is ask.  Right?  Right.  If you know anything about WHY one goes to church, you will know that one of the reasons is to ask and TO BE FORGIVEN.  If you know anything about people, you will know that they are HUMAN. 

THEREFORE.  Why do Christians go to church?  One of the big reasons is that they did wrong, they know they did wrong, going against what they believe.  They admit they’ve done wrong and are truly sorry for their actions/thoughts and wish to be forgiven, given another chance. 
TRUE Christians believe this and LIVE this.

 THAT IS NOT HYPOCRISY.

 
Hypocrisy, as stated above, is when a person PRETENDS to have beliefs in that which they truly do not, takes actions against said beliefs, and criticizes others for taking the same action.

 Hypocrisy is when a person wears the name of a belief like a cape.  A nice image. Makes you look pretty.

Catholicism.  I AM NOT getting into this too deeply.  Mostly because it’s a whole other can of worms, and honestly, I’m still learning about it. 
HOWEVER.  I can safely say that despite Sara’s background of having a Catholic family and going to a Catholic school, she’s got no idea about Catholicism.  And THAT is really sad.  SERIOUSLY, the fact that all Sara had to defend her loathing for the Catholic faith is that her parent’s friends are anal about the cleanliness and order of their home, or their suspiciousness, is REDICULOUS.  It sounds to me like she had the unhappy circumstance of having acquaintance with some weirdoes.  Or people who like to have a clean house. 

 
I’m going to wager that Sara has had many run-ins with her parents about Christianity in general and her parents aren’t knowledgeable enough to properly describe to Sara the principles and reasons of being a Christian.  SO, one cannot blame Sara’s ignorance entirely on her own fault. 

 All religion is a hard thing to learn about and understand.  It seems to me, she gave up on Christianity too soon and based her opinions off of her own thoughts about it, without researching for herself WHY Christians do certain things.  And if she did research, WHAT AND WHERE did she do the researching???  Is what she found, from something that was written solely AGAINST Christianity???  Did she read both sides?  Or did she find something that satisfied her opinion and just stop at that? 

You see, it takes a lot of work.  And with most people, they get lazy, overwhelmed, tired.  So, they put the work aside and make up things in their own heads or things they hear people say and take them out of context. 

And SO.  Sara, needs to know what she’s talking about.  And have better craft. 

AND as always, my disclaimer:  I am human.  I am not God.  I am wrong.  But I sure do think I have some good things to say… or some things worth thinking about at least.  I am just tired of seeing people speak words that just take up space, and hold no worth.  Not that I do.  But I think I’m pretty safe in saying, I THINK about what I say.  …I think.   I’m working on it.  Okay. Goodnight. 

P.S.  If you got questions, hit me baby.    One more time?   Oh jeez.  Ok, I’m done.